Gary Glitter to appeal against travel order

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Disgraced former British rocker Gary Glitter is to appeal against a British court order which means he must tell police if he intends to travel abroad.

The singer was placed under the restriction after he was put on the sex offenders’ register on returning in August to London from Vietnam where he had been jailed for three years for child sex abuse.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, was not present for a hearing on Friday at Harrow Crown Court, in northwest London, where an appeal date was set for February 19 to 20, the Press Association reported.

Under the terms of the order, Glitter, 64, is not prevented from traveling abroad, but must inform police if he plans to be away for more than three days.

Just days before Glitter returned to Britain, the government announced plans to tighten the laws to control the movement of convicted child sex offenders with possibility that pedophiles could be banned from traveling for up to five years.

Glitter, who had a string of hits in the 1970s and 80s with songs such as “I’m the Leader of the Gang (I Am),” was convicted in Britain in 1999 of downloading child pornography onto his personal computer.

He later left the country and moved to Cambodia, staying for several years before being blacklisted, again on sex allegations. He moved to Vietnam, where he was arrested in 2005 and charged with the sexual abuse of two young girls.

He pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison in March 2006.